Pot Farm creators open Downtown East Side Games, announce Zombinis

The Canadian creators of the fire grass Facebook farmer Pot Farm have opened a new studio, East Side Games, Inside Social Games reports. (But wait, didn't these guys also work for Downtown East Side Games? Why, yes they did.) Josh Nilson and Galan Akin, formerly studio manager and creative director of DES Games, scored $1.5 million in funding with Super Rewards founder Robert Bailey.

Bailey will assume the role of CEO of the new East Side Games, while Nilson and Akin resume work under their former titles at Downtown East Side Games. Now, East Side Games also has acquired rights to Pot Farm, which enjoys 900 thousand monthly players, according to Bailey. So, why the name change at all? Who knows, but our guess is that it has something to do with that funding.

The new found trio plans to release Zombinis, "a collectible battle game featuring cuddly and somewhat explosive zombies with detachable body parts and addicting gameplay," according to ISG, before the end of this year on Facebook. It already sounds like a far cry from Pot Farm, but still potentially aiming for a mature audience. East Side Games is already considering other platforms like the open web and the Google+ Games service, and had choice words for platforms like Facebook:

"[That] way we own the user, we control the experience and we pay the lowest tax rate," Bailey told ISG. "Zuck and Jobs want a 30% cut, Google is talking about a much more fair 5%, but regardless, the safest place for us is to not be at the whim of one platform, high taxes, and draconian content restrictions." I'm guessing he's not very good friends with Sean Ryan, huh? Check out all of what East Side Games had to say of the news here.

Why do you think these guys went with a name so similar to the studio they used to work for, if go for a different name at all? Do you think the new found East Side Games has a chance in the larger Facebook game market? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.